Shea Weber’s contract is the latest in NHL lunacy

Shea Weber's contract is pushing the NHL into lunacy

And so, the National Hockey League continues to descend into farce.

Last Friday, NHL owners included limitations on contract lengths and signing bonuses in their initial offer to the players in bargaining for the new collective bargaining agreement. Yet since July 1 some of these same owners have been signing players to exceedingly rich, decade-long deals.

Call it the summer of excess: 10 years and US$58-million for Los Angeles goaltender Jonathan Quick; 10 years and US$60-million for Carolina’s Jordan Staal; 12 years and US$104.4-million for Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby; matching 13-year, US$98-million contracts for Zach Parise and Ryan Suter.

On Wednesday night, the money continued to flow with Philadelphia signing Nashville defenceman Shea Weber to an offer sheet that stretches on for 14 years and is reportedly worth US$110-million. The Predators have seven days to match the offer, which would make Weber the second-richest player behind Washington’s Alex Ovechkin, or they could simply accept a bounty of four first-round draft picks in the next five years.

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Either way, with the threat of a labour stoppage in the background, the whole thing seems so ridiculous that you almost expect NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to step out of the negotiating session in Manhattan, look into a camera and shout, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”

For now, we’ll play along and pretend this is not a joke and that general managers are simply following the advice that they should conduct business as usual. If so, then good on them, because this might be the last time we see these ridiculous contracts.

Then again, maybe this is just the start.

If you are Bettman, how do you argue that teams are losing money when so many continue to spend freely? How can you ask for limits on contract length when owners are handing out contracts that take a player well past even an above-average player’s retirement age? How can you ask for any change if some owners are still willing to operate under the current rules?

When asked about the significance of the Weber signing, New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist told Sportsnet’s Michael Grange: “The league must be doing pretty well, eh?”

Yes, that is the perception. Or rather, as is often the case, it appears that the owners simply need protection from themselves.

These are long-term deals. But in a way, they are short-sighted. Weber’s contract, which is heavily front-loaded, pays him US$80-million in the first six years, a lot of it via signing bonuses.

It then drops from a salary of US$14-million in 2017-18 to US$6-million in 2018-19 and then to US$3-million in 2022-23, before paying out just U$1-million in each of his last three seasons.

By the time the contract expires, Weber would be 40 years old. All that matters is that the average annual expenditure — on which the salary cap is based — remains a somewhat manageable US$7.85-million.

It is the same loophole that Minnesota, Pittsburgh, New Jersey and other teams have used to circumvent the spirit of the salary cap. And though Philadelphia was the top-spending team last season and appears to have used its deep pockets to its advantage, it is not always a case of the rich being able to outspend the poor. Minnesota, which has committed US$196-million to Parise and Suter, had a US$55-million payroll that ranked 20th in the league last season. Carolina was 27th.

This is sure to rub some the wrong way because of the way that Philadelphia appears to have bullied its way to getting its man.

When Brian Burke was the general manager of the Anaheim Ducks, he considered an offer sheet made by Edmonton to Dustin Penner so backhanded that he wanted to challenge the Oilers’ Kevin Lowe to a fight in a barn. This one is similarly callous, even if Predators GM David Poile saw it coming.

According to reports, Philadelphia and at least three other teams — San Jose, Detroit and New York — had targeted Weber for some time, flying the 26-year-old in to meet with management and tour each team’s facility. A trade has reportedly been attempted — and could still happen — but GM Paul Holmgren decided to go to Plan B and force Poile’s hand by signing Weber to a bonus-laden contract that might be tough for the small-market team to match.

“We have stated previously that, should a team enter into an offer sheet with Shea, our intention would be to match and retain Shea. Our ownership has provided us with the necessary resources to build a Stanley Cup-winning team,” Poile said in a statement. “Due to the complexity of the offer sheet, we will take the appropriate time to review and evaluate it and all of its ramifications in order to make the best decision for the Predators in both the short and long-term.”

In both scenarios, walking away from Weber might be difficult.

The team has already lost Suter and forward Alexander Radulov this summer. And while four first-round draft picks is enticing, the way that Philadelphia’s roster is stacked up probably means that the picks likely will fall in the bottom third of the first round.

Sure, 14 years is a big commitment. But maybe Weber, like Crosby and a handful of others, is the exception. After all, he is a two-time Norris Trophy finalist and considered the best all-around defenceman in the NHL, the type of player you can build a team around.

Then again, maybe he is just the beginning.

Next summer, Edmonton’s Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle become restricted free agents. Let the bidding start at 15 years and US$120-million.